River fishing for smallmouth

[cyclops2]

Based on cold blooded animal food needs & oxygen needs...…………… you are right.

 

their preferred foods will be doing the same things ………….deep dark cooler & plants giving off Oxygen.

 

frogs, mice lures WILL bring them up.   BBUUTT...... the 80 pound braid …..WILL rip the jaw muscles/ tendons & gill hinge point badly as you are forced to drag them in. Good chance the fish will not ne able to use his jaw to suck in & clamp down tight enough again. Late fall I catch several LONG & skinny bass & pike.  No sores on or inside the meat. Cut the bellies open & only a Goby or 2 in them. They are starving.  Other bass & pike are full of Goby. 

Fish are designed to be supported all the time by still water.  

 

 

 

 

[Turkey sandwich]

16 hours ago, cyclops2 said:

Based on cold blooded animal food needs & oxygen needs...…………… you are right.

 

their preferred foods will be doing the same things ………….deep dark cooler & plants giving off Oxygen.

 

frogs, mice lures WILL bring them up.   BBUUTT...... the 80 pound braid …..WILL rip the jaw muscles/ tendons & gill hinge point badly as you are forced to drag them in. Good chance the fish will not ne able to use his jaw to suck in & clamp down tight enough again. Late fall I catch several LONG & skinny bass & pike.  No sores on or inside the meat. Cut the bellies open & only a Goby or 2 in them. They are starving.  Other bass & pike are full of Goby. 

Fish are designed to be supported all the time by still water.  

 

 

 

 

I don't use 80lb braid for anything, but how you play the fish determines how much damage you'll likely do to it.  20lb braid that you retrieve like you've tied the end to a Corvette will do exactly the same thing. The reason for heavier lines have more to do with how they float and rip through grass than their actual breaking strength. 

[cyclops2]

Stop the lures. Buy some of the fish flavored BAITS...………….  Use it just like a lure. No real bass ? May be a sterile river / dam area. Try any other water. Usually no weeds = no bass.  Weeds indicate a complete food cycle for all fish & baits.

[dsw1204]

On 7/28/2019 at 3:27 AM, dsw1204 said:

 

 

On 7/28/2019 at 3:27 AM, dsw1204 said:

 

 

On 7/28/2019 at 3:27 AM, dsw1204 said:

 

 

[dsw1204]

Well, I've been fishing the Great Miami River for smallies and have not caught any nor have not had any bites, either.  It is getting frustrating, but still enjoyable trying to catch them.  I've tried mid-afternoon and early evening times with no success at all.  I haven't tried early morning, yet.   I've been using soft plastic crawdads and Zoom Trick Worms, tubes, hellgramites,  some topwater (Whopper Plopper), and I've tried using a weedless Mepps spinner (Mister Twister).

 

I've gone to turbulent water, quiet water, water just downwater from rapids, and just past dams.

 

I've thrown upwater and I've thrown downwater with no success.  I feel I'm reverting back to "The world's worst fisherman" again.  But, when I get feeling like this, I go to my ponds and catch largemouth.

 

But, I want to catch smallmouth, so I will keep trying.

 

Any more recommendations for me?

[Scott F]

51 minutes ago, dsw1204 said:

Well, I've been fishing the Great Miami River for smallies and have not caught any nor have not had any bites, either.  It is getting frustrating, but still enjoyable trying to catch them.  I've tried mid-afternoon and early evening times with no success at all.  I haven't tried early morning, yet.   I've been using soft plastic crawdads and Zoom Trick Worms, tubes, hellgramites,  some topwater (Whopper Plopper), and I've tried using a weedless Mepps spinner (Mister Twister).

 

I've gone to turbulent water, quiet water, water just downwater from rapids, and just past dams.

 

I've thrown upwater and I've thrown downwater with no success.  I feel I'm reverting back to "The world's worst fisherman" again.  But, when I get feeling like this, I go to my ponds and catch largemouth.

 

But, I want to catch smallmouth, so I will keep trying.

 

Any more recommendations for me?

Get off the bank and get into the river. You need to cover more water than you can get to from the bank. 

[dsw1204]

9 minutes ago, Scott F said:

Get off the bank and get into the river. You need to cover more water than you can get to from the bank. 

I forgot to mention that I have been wading the river.  I do not know where the deep spots are located (I've heard you want to find the deep spots), so I've just been trying any spots that I can get to.  I've gotten about 30' or so out into the river at a couple of different locations.  I've also heard you want to find turbulent water because there is more oxygen in turbulent water and that is where you'll find smallies.  I don't know.  I've also heard you want to find deep water, but that is hard to do in this size of river, I think.  Easier to find deep spots in small creeks, but the Great Miami River is fairly big and not easy to see the deep spots.

[TnRiver46]

On 8/10/2019 at 8:32 PM, dsw1204 said:

I forgot to mention that I have been wading the river.  I do not know where the deep spots are located (I've heard you want to find the deep spots), so I've just been trying any spots that I can get to.  I've gotten about 30' or so out into the river at a couple of different locations.  I've also heard you want to find turbulent water because there is more oxygen in turbulent water and that is where you'll find smallies.  I don't know.  I've also heard you want to find deep water, but that is hard to do in this size of river, I think.  Easier to find deep spots in small creeks, but the Great Miami River is fairly big and not easy to see the deep spots.

Usually it's deepest where the water is slowest. Are there any other people where you are fishing?

[dsw1204]

On 8/14/2019 at 8:52 AM, TnRiver46 said:

Usually it's deepest where the water is slowest. Are there any other people where you are fishing?

No, not usually.  I guess that probably means I am NOT at an optimal spot?  I usually go to where there is a spillway from a water treatment plant.  I was told this was a good place to go, but I have yet to catch anything there and I've been there about 5-6 different days.

[Scott F]

8 minutes ago, dsw1204 said:

No, not usually.  I guess that probably means I am NOT at an optimal spot?  I usually go to where there is a spillway from a water treatment plant.  I was told this was a good place to go, but I have yet to catch anything there and I've been there about 5-6 different days.

The discharge from a water treatment plant is usually a good spot during the winter when the water coming out is considerably warmer than the rest if the river. 

[dsw1204]

59 minutes ago, Scott F said:

The discharge from a water treatment plant is usually a good spot during the winter when the water coming out is considerably warmer than the rest if the river. 

But, not so good during this time of year where temperatures are about 90 degrees?

[Scott F]

6 minutes ago, dsw1204 said:

But, not so good during this time of year where temperatures are about 90 degrees?

Don’t know. I’ve never fished a crap plant in the summer. Air temps as a rule are irrelevant. Water temps are the only thing that matter. 

[dsw1204]

1 minute ago, Scott F said:

Don’t know. I’ve never fished a crap plant in the summer. Air temps as a rule are irrelevant. Water temps are the only thing that matter. 

Well, it looks like I will be doing some fishing in the winter.  Wasn't planning on this.  The water temperature seems to be very comfortable to me when I wade out into it with my shorts and crocs.  Does this mean the smallmouths may not necessarily be around this spillway at this time of year?  In these warmer months, should I be trying to find deeper pools or turbulent water (I am assuming turbulent water will be cooler)?

 

Regardless, in the colder weather, I guess I will be using the waders and I wil try fishing around the spillway again.

[TnRiver46]

Sounds like a tricky situation, maybe try hopping around to different spots and talking to fellow anglers at access points and see what they are catching 

[Scott F]

Active, feeding smallmouth are  not usually in deep pools except at the head or tail end of a pool near a riffle or fast water. 

There is no way for me to know if your spillway and water is going to produce. You just have to fish it and figure it out. 

[dsw1204]

28 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Sounds like a tricky situation, maybe try hopping around to different spots and talking to fellow anglers at access points and see what they are catching 

Thanks, I will have to ask some other anglers when I see them.

3 minutes ago, Scott F said:

Active, feeding smallmouth are  not usually in deep pools except at the head or tail end of a pool near a riffle or fast water. 

There is no way for me to know if your spillway and water is going to produce. You just have to fish it and figure it out. 

Thanks, if they are near that riffle or fast water, is it better to be upstream or downstream of that riffle or fast water?

[M0xxie]

On 7/24/2019 at 8:54 PM, dsw1204 said:

Thanks, that is good to know.  When I am below the dam, should I be tossing my lures upstream or downstream?  Or, does it make any difference?

I was always taught to cast upstream and work the bait down with the current because it looks more natural, at least for a baitfish-imitating presentation (maybe, who knows for sure), which makes enough sense to me to keep doing it (as long as I'm catching them).  Most of the bass you see have their noses oriented INTO the current, so they're more likely to see your lure that way. 

 

I've caught them both ways, so in the end maybe it doesn't really matter to a hungry bass, so who knows, but MY preference is to start bank fishing downstream and walk upstream, casting upstream and working the bait downstream, and have had good luck doing it that way.